How to Achieve Great Story Pacing with “Character Fireside Chats”

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For the past few years I’ve discovered my love for modern stories—whether they be TV shows, movies, or books—has decreased. For a bit, I couldn’t figure out why. So many had unique premises, exciting plots, interesting scenery. On the surface, everything seemed as though these should be enjoyable stories. Yet…I couldn’t fall in love with them. And it bugged me. So me, being the writer I am, began to dissect these stories and figure out WHY. Why did these tales with such great potential fall so very short? Then, finally, finally, it hit me. The pacing was off. That was…

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Lifely Recap – Finishing Edits, Lots of Painting, Even More Fangirling, and I’m Back!

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WELL HELLO THERE. Guess who’s back from her hiatus???? Did you miss me? Did you even notice I was gone? Do you even remember who I am? Do *I* remember who I am? *has mini existential crisis* Ahem. Anyways! Apparently May is no longer with us (wow, that sounds like May got murdered or something. Then again…that would explain why it just vanished suddenly, hmmmm), and since I did say I would be returning in June, well, HERE I AM. And my goodness, have I missed you guys! I feel like so much has happened since I was last here…

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Beautiful People – Favorites Edition {And the FINAL Beautiful People!}

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My absolutely favorite blog linkup is ENDING. And I’m a blubbering ball of sadness. *cue the waterworks* I’m sure most of you know about Beautiful People—a linkup hosted by Sky @ Further Up and Further In and Cait @ Paperfury, in which each month they ask questions for us to answer about our story characters. Talking about my characters (or, ya know, ANY fictional characters) is my favoritest thing on this earth, so naturally I was alllll about this linkup! And GUYS, I’ve been doing it since my first year of blogging. Since before Cait was one of the hosts and…

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Five Ways To Expand Your Story

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Some of you may know that my current WIP, Burning Thorns, was originally a 20k novella that I later turned into a full novel. That was my first time ever doing anything like that. I’ve always written novels, but I’ve never turned a novella/short story into a novel. It was a new experience. But it went well. Surprisingly well. That little 20k novella is now a 95k novel and I’m currently editing the 3rd draft. Crazy what little story ideas can become, amIright? I probably should have done a post like this during the expansion days (that was like 2…

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The Spring Cleaning Writerly Challenge Tag

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Can you guys believe we’ve made it to spring? (Probably not judging by the frigid temperatures…) Hoooow is it nearly April? Pretty sure Christmas was yesterday! But since spring is pounding on the door like an uninvited guest (seriously, I want it to still be January!), I suppose I better let it in and offer it cookies and tea or something. (Please don’t waste your precious lives trying to make sense of my analogies.) In honor of spring arriving and the urge to spring clean, my frabjous and brilliant friend Deborah O'Carroll has created a spring cleaning tag. But we’re…

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7th Blogoversary Celebration Day 2: A Thank You Letter and Part Two of the Q&A Vlog

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Read more about the article 7th Blogoversary Celebration Day 2: A Thank You Letter and Part Two of the Q&A Vlog

HELLO AGAIN!!! It is day two of Musings of an Elf’s two-day 7th Blogoversary Celebration (say that 5 times fast) and I couldn’t be more thrilled! (If you  missed it, don’t forget to check out yesterday’s post where I showed you guys my first ever blog post (and hid in a hole from embarrassment afterwards) and shared part 1 of the Q&A vlog.) Today, March 14th, is Musings of an Elf’s official birthday. On this day 7 years ago, I hit publish on that first post and entered the great, wide, crazy, AMAZING world of blogging. And I’ve never looked…

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7th Blogoversary Celebration Day 1: #MyFirstPostRevisited Tag and Part One of the Q&A Vlog!

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Read more about the article 7th Blogoversary Celebration Day 1: #MyFirstPostRevisited Tag and Part One of the Q&A Vlog!

Happy Tuesday, my friends! Yes, I am posting on a Tuesday instead of Monday. That’s because this is a special week. IT’S THE WEEK OF MUSINGS OF AN ELF’S 7TH BLOGOVERSARY.   Tomorrow (March 14th) is the official blogoversary date, thus I will be posting today and tomorrow! Because why celebrate one day when you can spread the party for TWO days?! Can we just pretend we’re all hanging out in a room full of party decorations and eating cake together? Yes? YES. Today, to celebrate, I have two fun things going. Thing #1: I’m doing the #MyFirstPostRevisited Tag in…

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Goals of 2018

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HAPPY 2018!!! I do hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year's. I have returned from my (very brief) break, refreshed and excited for the new year! I have many plans in the works for 2018. Plans I’m actually going to make a for reals effort to achieve unlike last year. But after spending 2017 reevaluating my life, learning more how to balance things, and healing after a not-so-great 2016, I am back and more excited than ever to dive into a year of productivity and accomplishments! Which means today, for my first 2018 post, I’d like to…

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2017 Wrap-Up: The Life, the Geekery, the Bookishness

So apparently 2017 is almost done with us and I’d like to know who gave it permission to be nearly finished?????? WHERE DO I FILE A COMPLAINT? Because wow yeah. This year zoomed by at record breaking speeds and has left me sitting here in a daze wondering what just happened like the Hare in the Tortoise and the Hare story. (I don’t know either. Just go with it.) Last year wasn’t my favorite. I wasn’t in the best place mentally, there were a lot of lows, and some tragic things happened. But 2017, 2017 was much, much better. I…

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The NaNo 2017 Diaries {Vlog}

THIIIIINGS ARE GOING DOWN TODAY. The title of this post in fact does not have a typo. Nope. It’s correct. I’M SHARING A VLOG. My first ever vlog. With my actual face. And voice. TERRIFYING, I KNOW. So why this sudden video? Well. During NaNoWriMo this year I thought it’d be fun to make a video diary every single day of all that was going on. At first I was thinking I’d do it only for myself—just a fun way to have a log of the month without having to journal anything (because goodness knows I was writing enough without…

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